Editing Gemini 8 (section)

==Objectives==
Gemini VIII was planned to be a three-day mission. After being launched into an {{convert|87|by|146|nmi|km|adj=on}} orbit, on the fourth revolution it was to [[space rendezvous|rendezvous]] and [[docking and berthing of spacecraft|dock]] with an [[Agena target vehicle]], which had been earlier launched into a {{convert|161|nmi|km|adj=on}} circular orbit. This was to be the first space docking in history. Four separate dockings were planned.{{sfn|NASA|1966|p=2}}

During the first docking, Pilot David Scott planned to perform an ambitious, two-hour-and-10-minute [[extra-vehicular activity]] (EVA), which would have been the first since [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]]'s June 1965 spacewalk on [[Gemini 4|Gemini IV]]. On a {{convert|25|ft|m|adj=on}} tether for one and a half revolutions around the Earth, Scott would have retrieved a nuclear emulsion radiation experiment from the front of the Gemini's spacecraft adapter, then activate a [[micrometeoroid]] experiment on the Agena. Then he was to move back to the Gemini and test a minimum-reaction power tool by loosening and tightening bolts on a work panel.{{sfn|NASA|1966|p=2}}

During the EVA, after Armstrong undocked from the Agena, Scott was to don and test an Extravehicular Support Pack (ESP) stored at the back of the spacecraft adapter. This was a backpack with a self-contained oxygen supply, extra [[Freon]] propellant for his Hand Held Maneuvering Unit, and a {{convert|75|ft|m|adj=on}} extension to his tether. He would practice several maneuvers in formation with the Gemini and Agena vehicles (separated at distances up to {{convert|60|ft|m}}, in concert with Armstrong in the Gemini.{{sfn|NASA|1966|pp=3, 18–19, 40–43}}

The flight also carried an additional three scientific, four technological, and one medical experiment.{{sfn|NASA|1966|p=3}}